Indorama delays Klaipeda PET shutdown and starts up Rotterdam plant

05 July 2012 15:47[Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Indorama Ventures has delayed a maintenance shutdown at its ?xml:namespace>Klaipedapolyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Lithuania and is in the process of starting up its PET expansion in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the Thailand-listed producer said on Thursday.

"We are not going to take Klaipeda out … until April [2013]," business and commercial development director, Stephen Short, said.

The 198,000 tonne/year plant was scheduled to go down for maintenance in October 2012.

"For supply reasons to the market … and because of a lack of imports," the outage was postponed, Short added.

The scheduled shutdowns at Indorama's 155,000 tonne/year Workington PET plant in the UK and the 140,000 tonne/year PET plant in Wlocklawek, Poland, are on plan for September/October, Short said.

Indorama's 200,000 tonne/year expansion at its Rotterdam site, where capacity will total 390,000 tonnes/year, is in the process of starting up.

"We are testing kit … It is not fully up yet," Short said.

The European PET market is in a state of flux after mixed pricing messages from upstream sectors resulted in some cheap PET offers disappearing this week, according to buyers and sellers.